Illinois

Issuance as of Wednesday is at $345.327 billion, a 32.7% increase over 2023. The Bond Buyer 30-day visible calendar on Monday was at $20.02 billion, the largest in nearly four years.

Municipals lagged the UST moves again, cheapening ratios and creating a valuable entry point for investors looking for compelling taxable equivalent yields, particularly 10-years and out.

Chicago released a budget forecast that its corporate fund deficit will grow to $982.4 million in 2025 from $222.9 million at 2024's end.

Illinois will sell up to $1.1 billion of general obligation refunding bonds and $600 million of taxable and tax-exempt GO bonds by the end of September.

Chicago will bring to market $1 billion of bonds for O'Hare International Airport, part one of a three-phase financing plan for 2024.

Dolton's unfunded expenditures have soared since 2021, resulting in a negative $3.65 million balance in its general fund, Lori Lightfoot told village trustees.

Fitch upgraded Chicago's issuer default rating and GO debt rating to A-minus from BBB-plus and the city's sales tax securitization bonds to AAA from AA-plus.

The Chicago Public Schools board unanimously approved the district's 2025 budget Thursday, a day after the Civic Federation warned it is a "temporary solution."

First Eagle Investments has hired Purva Patel, based in Chicago, as managing director and senior investment specialist on its high-yield municipal credit team.

Chicago Transit Authority CFO and Treasurer Jeremy Fine is leaving the agency, CTA President Dorval Carter, Jr., announced.

Fiduciary responsibilities and politics are keeping the ESG debate alive in public finance.

Officials in East St. Louis, Illinois, sued the local police and firefighter pension boards and the state comptroller to block the use of an intercept law.

Detroit-based international law firm Miller Canfield has hired five public finance attorneys from Ice Miller. All five will join the firm's Chicago office.

Unfunded public pension liabilities have dropped more than 60%, or $3 trillion, from the peak in 2020, according to a new Moody's Ratings report.

Every state in the Midwest has clean water and drinking water financing programs. Those financing mechanisms may face greater strain in the years ahead.

Timothy McGregor has joined Chicago-based Riverbend Capital Advisors as managing partner. He will oversee the shaping and execution of investment strategies.

A half-billion dollars in grants are to be split by a dozen of the nearly 500 applicants for the tech hub program and 31 semifinalists.

The Illinois state comptroller reported a 55% year-over-year increase in the general revenue fund cash balance as her office closed fiscal 2024.

In the first half of 2024, winding-down federal aid, a resurgence of Build America Bond refundings and election uncertainty have contributed to the surge in issuance, said James Welch, a portfolio manager at Principal Asset Management.

Convention centers in Chicago, Cincinnati and St. Louis are being upgraded, although cost increases after the pandemic added challenges to some financings.